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United Auburn Indian Community and Bwin.party Ink Online Poker Deal

ICTMN Staff

5/8/12

The United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC) recently entered into a ten-year agreement with Bwin.party digital, the world's largest listed online gaming company, to provide the technology for the tribe's online poker services should California legalize Internet gaming, reported Reuters.

The contract would begin from the date online poker services are launched in the state, reported MarketWatch.

"We see the legalization of Internet poker and other Internet gaming as being inevitable," David Keyser, UAIC tribal chairman, said in a statement.

On February 24, California Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) introduced a bill to allow intrastate online gambling, reported PokerNews.com. If passed, the Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2012, also known as SB 1463, would regulate, license and tax—at a currently proposed rate of 10 percent of gross gaming revenue—Internet gaming within the state of California, reported MarketWatch.

The UAIC would be an eligible operator to apply for a 10-year license as a federally recognized California Indian tribe that already operates a casino resort within the state, Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, states a UAIC press release. Those approved would pay a mandatory $30 million licensing fee, credited against gross gaming revenue proceeds for the first three years of operation, reported OnlinePokerNews.org.

"Combining our own significant assets and resources with those of UAIC will create a strong partnership that is well-placed to seize the opportunities that will arise if appropriate online poker legislation is enacted in the Golden State," said Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger, the co-CEOs of bwin.party.

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